


memories grown and cherished

by Ceta



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, breath of the wild AU, it's just nice feels, liveloveyoibing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-03-25
Packaged: 2019-04-08 02:56:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14095581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ceta/pseuds/Ceta
Summary: Victor stops, stares as Yuuri tips his head back and closes his eyes, wind blowing through his hair and basking in the sunlight, listens as the beginnings of a delighted laugh slips from his lips.He tucks the thought away and thinks, Someday.





	memories grown and cherished

**Author's Note:**

> For the bing prompt 'Garden': A Legends of Zelda AU! I had fun with this, even if I had to throttle the word count down aha.

Victor has never hated the Springs as much as he does when Yuuri whittles through the daylight hours praying only to retire in the evenings dejected and frustrated. 

 

“A break will do you good,” Victor says for the umpteenth time, faced with Yuuri's dim demeanor and his near-constant furrowed brows for the nth time in the last handful of days. “Yuuri -”

 

“Thank you, Victor,” Yuuri cuts him off, as always, polite save for that dulled edge of an age-old envy, one he harbored against Victor and his natural prowess. They've long since talked about it and corrected misunderstandings, have long since become close, closer, but Victor knows that this will be something that'll never truly leave its place wedged in Yuuri’s heart until Yuuri awakens his powers. Until he feels  _ worthy _ even though Yuuri already is. “But this is something I need to do.”

 

What Yuuri  _ needs  _ to do is get a proper night’s sleep. Victor is his knight; he looks and sees the shadows of restless nights, the glazed quality to his normally sharp eyes, and it hurts to know that Victor can protect him from everything but himself.

 

He looks at Yuuri, eyes downcast but posture as regal as ever, still proud, still stubborn, and thinks that if he can't get Yuuri to sleep, then at least he'll do something to help.

 

 

* * *

 

“Victor,” Yuuri says one morning, still exhausted around the edges but smiling now where his lips used to be pinched in frustration. “Would you like to go for a ride, today?”

 

It’ll be the first time in weeks since Yuuri has gone out for something other than traveling to one - or all three, if he was feeling particularly determined - of the Springs. The sun is bright in the cloudless sky, the breeze cool and gentle on their skin; it is a good day for traveling, and a good day to relax Yuuri’s fraught nerves.

 

“Of course,” Victor replies, thankful for the opportunity. They go and ready their horses, and before whatever miracle allowed this to happen can fade away, Victor urges them away from the castle with quick, steady strides, Yuuri matching him in pace.

 

It’s only because he’s searching for it that Victor notices the way the tension strung tight in Yuuri’s shoulders fades away as they ride farther and farther. His smile is a small thing, but it’s content, and Victor can’t bring himself to ask for more when Yuuri all but shines in a way he never could cooped within the Springs.

 

The Springs, while beautiful in their own way, are dreary. They’re dark and silent save for the low roll of drifting water, the air is heavy, and the ground cold. Victor feels like the world is closing in on him whenever he steps foot in there. Yuuri spends every waking moment locked away there with only his thoughts for company. It’s lonely enough as is, but dreadful because Yuuri always comes out looking worse for wear.

 

Here, though, riding the wind through the Great Plateau, Yuuri is stunning. 

 

Not for the first time, Victor thinks that  _ this  _ is where Yuuri belongs, surrounded by life and color and warmth and sunshine. He thinks flowers would be beautiful pressed into Yuuri’s hands, tucked behind his ears or settled atop his head - a crown of flowers, he imagines, made of bright purples and blues and yellows. Trees would make a wonderful resting place, their wide branches arching over Yuuri and casting him in shade when the sun is too harsh. A house, maybe, somewhere away from the castle that’s done nothing but drain the energy out of Yuuri as of late but settled somewhere peaceful and open. Victor himself, coming out to greet him, smiling and so obviously  _ happy _ \--

 

Victor stops, stares as Yuuri tips his head back and closes his eyes, wind blowing through his hair and basking in the sunlight, listens as the beginnings of a delighted laugh slips from his lips.

 

He tucks the thought away and thinks,  _ Someday _ .

 

 

* * *

 

Spurred by his earlier thoughts, he gifts Yuuri a blue and white wildflower on their journey back, plucked from the earth where many others are growing, and Yuuri smiles at him like he’s given him the entire world.

 

* * *

 

It’s something of a habit now to give Yuuri these flowers, particularly Silent Princesses, whose coloring seems to make Yuuri smile, given his gold-gilded blue-and-white clothes. Yuuri certainly looks brighter because of it, and Victor has no intention of stopping if it makes Yuuri smile at him like  _ that  _ every time Victor gives him one.

 

“Again?” Yuuri says when Victor shows him another flower. He takes it anyway, smiling. “You really don’t have to, Victor. I’ll run out of space at this rate.”

 

“Maybe we should plant a garden instead,” Victor says, and Yuuri laughs, looking fondly at the flower as he twirls it between his thumb and forefinger.

 

“Maybe,” Yuuri agrees.

 

* * *

 

Victor doesn't think he's ever felt heavier when he falls to the ground, Yuuri standing firm before him in the wake of his awakened powers.

 

_ I knew you could do it _ , Victor wants to say, but he can barely keep his eyes open. White spots dance across his vision, Yuuri’s power a bright, blinding thing, but he can make out enough to see when Yuuri whirls around, enough to see the horror that flashes across his face when he sees Victor sprawled on the ground.

 

“ _ Victor _ !”

 

Yuuri is quick to gather him into his arms, eyes fluttering across Victor's face to the wounds scattered across his body. It's comfortable here, Victor thinks, his head leaning against Yuuri's chest, eyes slipping shut until he can just barely make anything out. There's a Sleeping Princess just out of reach.

 

“No, no, no- Victor- Victor, don't- “ Yuuri’s cut off, by what, Victor doesn't really know, but when Yuuri starts again, Victor makes the hazy realization that Yuuri is crying. “Vic- Victor…”

 

_ Don't cry _ , Victor thinks, eyes slipping shut and sagging against Yuuri. Yuuri has finally, finally awakened his powers. He should be ecstatic, overjoyed. He shouldn't be crying.

 

Remembering the flower, Victor's hand twitches but doesn't move like he wants it to, doesn't reach out to grab the flower that never failed to put a smile on Yuuri's lips.  _ Please _ , he thinks, but the thought drifts away before he can finish it, and Victor is left with the echo of Yuuri's sobs ringing in the darkness as the world fades away. 

 

…

 

…

 

…

 

_ Victor _ , someone says, familiar and warm, and Victor wakes up anew.

 

…

 

…

 

…

 

There's a small section of the yard where Yuuri grows Silent Princesses, tending to it diligently nearly every day. Around him, there are herbs sprouting and other flowers blooming. A tree stands tall at the far left corner by the white fence, a bench settled in the grass underneath it's shade. 

 

Victor usually tends to their quaint garden, but today he's sprawled on the grass beside Yuuri, looking up at the sky. 

 

“Victor?” Yuuri says, and Victor tilts his head back so that he can look up at Yuuri, who's looking down at him with fondness in his eyes. “What are you thinking about?”

 

“What would you have done if I hadn't remembered?” Victor asks in reply. 

 

For some reason, Yuuri blushes. “It never crossed my mind that you wouldn't.”

 

Victor hums. “Really?”

 

“Yes,” Yuuri says, then, because he sees the question in Victor's eyes, he clarifies: “We loved each other then, even if it might not have been like this, like how it is now. That… that isn't something that could be forgotten, even after a hundred years.” He pauses, worries his lip. 

 

“And?” Victor prompts. 

 

“... I hoped that I was as important to you as you were to me,” Yuuri said. “We never really said, and I always wondered, but I hoped that you'd remember. I didn't want to think about what would happen if you didn't.”

 

Victor is silent for a moment before he pulls himself up so that he can face Yuuri. “You have always been important, Yuuri. I'll always remember you even if I forget.” He curls his hand around Yuuri’s gloved one, heedless of the dirt, and presses their foreheads together.  “I promise I'll find my way back to you, no matter what world or time we're in.”

 

Yuuri's eyes are bright as he looks at him, Victor’s future glittering within them, and Victor has no intention of ever letting this go.

  
  



End file.
